The Australian share market is expected to open slightly higher this morning after a strong lead from Wall Street and signs of stability in Greece.
US stocks surged on Friday as the market reacted to the release of better-than-expected US employment data. Investor fears over the plight of Greece’s economy have also receded as the European Union forges ahead with a rescue package for the debt-laden country.
The US Labor Department report revealed a loss of 36,000 jobs in February with the unemployment rate unchanged at 9.7%. Economists had expected a figure of 9.8%.
To the figures now and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122 points to 10,566 points. The S&P500 Index closed up 16 points to 1,139 and the NASDAQ added 34 at 2,326.
European stocks closed stronger on Friday. London’s FTSE rose 73 points, Paris gained 82 and Frankfurt is also up 82.
Asian stocks closed higher with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining 212 points, Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 223 and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 8 points.
The local share market closed slightly higher on Friday. The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 17 points to 4,767 and on the futures market the SPI200 is up 65 points. On to currencies: the Aussie Dollar at 8:30AM was buying 90.79 US cents, 60.01 Pence Sterling, 82.12 Yen and 66.61 Euro cents.
To company news around this morning: Shares in AWE Ltd (ASX:AWE) closed higher, gaining 4.71% to $2.67. The oil and gas producer has started drilling off the west coast of New Zealand, with expectations of a 250 million barrel oil find at its Hoki oil field. The well is characterised as high-risk and sources say there is about a one in 10 chance of success. Based on AWE’s 50% stake in Hoki, success could add about $2 billion to the company’s market value. AWE’s fiscal 2009 net profit result was $88.58 million.
Shares in David Jones (ASX:DJS) closed stronger on Friday, adding 1.84% to $4.99. Both it and rival Myer (ASX:MYR) are tipped to confirm early signs of better trading and improving margins when they report half-year results over the next fortnight. Both stores are expecting earnings growth of around 10% for the first half. Department store turnover increased by 7.2% in January after a dip in December, while clothing and footwear sales rose almost 3%, according to Merrill Lynch. However, February proved to be a challenging month with customers holding off on buying autumn and winter wear. David Jones posted a profit of $156.52 million for the 12 months to July 30, 2009.
There are no companies going ex-dividend today, however among those going tomorrow we have Air New Zealand and CSL.
To commodities: Gold is up $4.40 to US$1,137.50 an ounce for the April contract on Comex. For the May contract Silver is up 21 cents to US$17.39 and copper rose 4 cents at US$3.41.
And finally the price of oil gained $1.58 to US$81.50 a barrel for April light crude in New York.
